In preparation for #FoodWasteActionWeek MelizCooks the Instagram Food blogger joins InSinkErator in reducing food waste with a brand new recipe
Fırında Kızartma AD | Love food, but hate waste? Yeah, me too. Well, it’s actually #FoodWasteActionWeek from 6-12 March, and as many of you know, this is something I am extremely passionate about every day of the week, and every week of the year; fridge foraging is totally my jam so I’ve teamed up with @insinkerator_uk and lfhw_uk to share one of my favourite vegetable-based recipes, Fırında Kızartma.
My parents do not waste food – they repurpose everything, whether it’s eating food as leftovers, adding said leftovers to new dishes, or freezing what they think may not be eaten in time, and this is the mentality that I have also been brought up with. Using what we have in our fridges before buying anything else often requires a real change in mindset if it’s not something that has been intrinsically embedded in us. Often, it’s because it can be challenging to find the inspiration to cook something when staring at a random concoction of ingredients in the fridge; usually, I find that this random concoction of things will pretty much always involve vegetables.
Therefore, this recipe showcases exactly what you CAN do with random vegetables (in fact, you can roast any vegetables for this recipe; roots, cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli etc), and for those wrinkly tomatoes that are no longer fresh-salad worthy, you can make them into the most unctuous, umami-laden “sos”. Vegan & Gluten free, these are proper “meaty” loaded vegetables, perfect any time of the day or year because we #LoveFoodHateWaste and are excellent meal options for Ramadan (iftar) and Lent. Recipe on …, link in my bio.
Recipe – Serves 4-6
For the vegetables
7 tbsp (105ml) olive oil
4 tbsp cornflour
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp garlic granules
1 tsp paprika
2 large baking potatoes, sliced into 1 ½ cm thick rounds
2 medium aubergines, cut into 3cm x 6cm spears
2 onions, peeled and each cut into 4 wedges (with the root still in tact to hold the layers together)
2 courgettes, cut into 3cm x 6cm spears
2 large kapya biber / romano pepper, deseeded and cut into 3cm x 6cm pieces
1 large sivri biber / long green Turkish peppers
For the sauce
6 garlic cloves, peeled and ground down to a paste / finely grated
400g over-ripe tomatoes, halved and coarsely grated, skins discarded
1 heaped tbsp tatlı biber salçası / Turkish sweet (mild) red pepper paste
1 tsp icing sugar
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
A good pinch of sea salt flakes to taste
To serve
Thick natural yoghurt (plant based to keep the recipe vegan)
Finely chopped fresh mint / dill / parsley
Dried mint
Pul biber flakes
Lemon wedges
Crusty bread
Method
Preheat oven to 210C / 190C fan.
Brush 2 large, shallow non-stick baking trays with 1 tbsp olive oil, and once the oven is hot, pop the trays in the oven for the oil to heat up for 10-15 minutes while you get the vegetables ready.
Mix together the cornflour, oregano, garlic granules and paprika.
Place the sliced potatoes into a large bowl and sprinkle over ¼ of the cornflour mixture, coating the potatoes fully by using your hands to mix them and shaking the bowl around. Drizzle over 1 tbsp of olive oil into the bowl and again, using your hands, mix the potatoes well so that the cornflour and olive oil start to come together to form a paste. Wash your hands.
Place the aubergine spears and onions into another bowl and follow exactly the same method as you did for the potatoes.
Once the oil in the trays is hot, take one of the trays out and carefully lay the potatoes, aubergines and onions in it, ensuring the vegetables are laying as flat as possible (to ensure a crispy even cook). Season with a good pinch of sea salt flakes, pop the tray back into the oven, quite near the top but not on the very top rack, for 20 mins while you prep the remaining vegetables.
Pop the courgette spears into the bowl you used for the potatoes and follow exactly same cornflour and olive oil process as above.
Pop the peppers into the bowl you used for the aubergines and onions, and again, do as above.
Once the potatoes and aubergines have been roasting for 20 minutes, take the tray out, flip the vegetables over and pop the tray back into the oven. Take the other oiled tray out of the oven, and carefully and evenly lay the courgettes and peppers on it. Season with a good pinch of sea salt, pop the tray back into the oven (beneath the tray with the aubergines and courgettes) and cook for 20 mins while you prep the tomato “sos”.
Add the remaining tbsp of olive oil to a non-stick frying back on a medium-low heat and once hot, add the garlic and soften for no longer than a minute, ensuring that the garlic does not colour. Add the tomatoes to the pan, turn up the heat ever so slightly, give them a good stir into the garlic, then add the red pepper paste and sugar and sir really well so that both dissolve into the tomato juices. Add the pomegranate molasses to the pan, stir well again and let the “sos” reduce and thicken for a couple of minutes. Season with a good pinch of sea salt flakes and take the pan off the heat.
After the potatoes and aubergines have been cooking for around 40 minutes in total, take them out of the oven, turn the oven up to 230c/210c fan and place the courgettes and peppers on a higher rack in the oven for a further 5-10 minutes so that the courgettes caramelise a little more (the peppers won’t be crispy, but will be “jammier” in texture). Remove the crispy potatoes, aubergines and onions to a large platter. Once ready, take the courgettes and peppers out of the oven and serve them up on the same platter, spooning the tomato “sos” over. Serve hot or warm with thick set natural yoghurt, and a good sprinkling of the herbs and spices suggested above.
